Process of making double-layered linoleum products.



No. 727,214. 'PATENTED MAY 5. 1903.

L. W. SEESER;

PROCESS OF MAKING DOUBLE LAYERED LINOLEUM PRODUCTS.

APPLIOATIOHIIILED OCT. 7, 1902.

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ms'n'cmms PETERS coi. Puoro umo WASNINGTON. n. c.

.in fact, not smooth, but wavy on its upper- UNITED STATES Patented May 5, 1903.

LUDWIG \VILHELM SEESER, OF DELMENHORST, GERMANY.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 727,214, dated. May 5, 1903.

Application filed October '7, 1902. Serial No. 126,341. (No specimens.)

T0 rtZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUDWIG WILHELM SEE- SER, a subject of the Grand Diike of Oldenburg, and a resident of Delmenhorst, in the Grand Dukedom of Oldenburg, German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Processesof Making Double' Layered Linoleum Products, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to processes for making linoleum and the like in double layers consisting of a hard dense upper layer having the properties of the usual kinds of linoleum and a softer and more openunder layer similar to what is known as a cork carpet. If such a double-layered linoleum be made in the ordinary manner by rollingfirst on the foundation fabric the softer under ,layer and then over this the harder coveringrlayer, an article is obtained which is not free from objections and which does not meet requirements. The coating made in this manner is,

surface. This is explained by the fact, in rolling the harder and denser upper layer of the coating substance onto the under layer, which operation must be effected with considerable pressure upon the rollers, the under softer layer yields-that is to say, is compressed and pressed out irregularly, as experience has shown, because this soft under layer is not so homogeneous that the strong pressure of the rollers is developed uniformly thereon; but, on the other hand, it contains loose places which yield more than others and into which the upper layer is more pressed than at other places, the result of this being an uneven wavy upper surface of the coating. The wavy upper surface can, indeed, when the coating is completed be ground off in order to make it level or even; but by this means the upper surface, which has become smoothed and compressed by the rolling process, will again be made rough, so that thus no satisfactory product is turned out.

Now by the present invention the above drawbacks in the making of double-layered linoleum are removed.

The process consists in the substance form ing the harder and denser upper layer not being conveyed onto the softer under layer (so-called ,carpet) and rolled onto the same, but, vice versa, the substance intended for the under layer being applied to what is later the upper layer and of course on its rear side and rolled over the same. This may be done by the layer which forms later the upper layer being treated by itself in the ordi-' nary manner in which linoleum is made and then the foundation fabric (jute or the like) drawn off the under side of the linoleum, which may be very easily effected, after which the substance which is to finally form the under layer is rolled onto the under or rear side of the band of linoleum, which is lying with its smooth face or front downward, by which means both layers are combined with one another. The hard dense sheet of linoleum sustains the pressure of the rollers, and this pressure can be less for rolling out the softer layer than is the case for rolling out the upper layer without any unequal yielding of the said harder upper layer; taking place, so that thus a double coating'with a far more uniform surface is obtained. If any small inequalities in this double coating should still be found, it will be only in the rolled-out softer layerthat is to say, on the under side of the double coating,where they do no harm, as it ismerely desired that the upper surface should besmoothand even. Such inequalities 'on the other hand, may also be easily removed by grinding without the essential features of the covering being in the slightest degree affected. In rolling the carpet material onto the upper layer of the coating (linoleum sheet) lying beneath it the latt-er requires a means for checking it, as otherwise it would be-expanded by reason of the absence of its previously-removed foundation fabric. This means for checking its expansion is supplied by the sheet of linoleum being laid with its smooth surface on a tough and fine-meshed material, whichrunsin conjunction with the rolled mass through the rollers and receives the pull of the latter, thus affording the necessary restriction of the linoleum and preventing its expansion. This fine material running in conjunction with the linoleum through the rollers does not combine with the smooth upper surface of the linoleum, but is separated from the covering immediately after it leaves the rollers. If the foundation material (jute) of the upper layer (linoleum) were not removed therefrom, but the carpet was immediately rolled over the jute on the linoleum, the material running through the rollers with the linoleum might be dispensed with; but a coherent closely-adhering product would not be obtained, as the thorough connection of the upper and under layers would be prevented by the jute remaining between them. By the removal. of the jute, which may be again employed, a saving is also effected.

The process may also be carried out in a simpler manner in a single operation.

Suitable apparatus for manufacturing this material in'one operation is shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of one form of apparatus with horizontally-alined pressure-rollers and a preliminary pressing-roller for the upper layer of substance. Fig. 2 is a view of the same form of apparatus with the main pressurerollers arranged one above the other. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing preliminary pressing-rollers associated with each of the main rollers. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the employment of two preliminary pressing-rollers.

In Fig. 1, a and b are two pressure-rollers arranged side by side, a third roller 0 (a preliminary pressing-roller) being arranged over the roller a. The covering substance which is intended to form the upper layer of the double-layered linoleum or floor-covering is fed to the side of the roller 0 away from the roller b, and from this roller a strip of linoleum coating substance, which forms the upper layer of the covering, is rolled out between the rollers a and o, and this strip travels forward over the surface of the roller a. In the mouth of the rollers a and b the other substance, which is to form the softer and looser under layer, is introduced, and the rollers a. and b roll this substance onto the rear side of the previously-rolled upper layer. This method of carrying out the process, as is evident, is continuous-that is to say, it is only necessary to introduce the one substance constantly at the top on the outside of the roller 0 and the other substance into the mouth of the two rollers aand b, or rather between said rollers, in order to produce the finished double-layered floor-covering, which passes out below the rollers a and 1). Thus here the separate manufacture of the strip of linoleum covering substance forming the upper layer, the removal of the foundation fabric from the same, and the reversal of this strip are dispensed with. As the upper layer receives a certain glaze by the preliminary rolling, the power of adhesion between this upper layer and the under layer rolled between the rollers a and 12 onto the rear side of the said upper layer is to some extent affected. In order to again compensate for this defect, a partition d is inserted in the month between the rollers a and b from above and parallel to the roller-axes, and a small quantity ofa linoleum substance which is specially adapted to bind is introduced on the side of the previously-rolled upper layer between this partition and the said upper layer, which small quantity of adhesive material, acting on the whole of the material passing between the rolls a and 1), effects the necessary thorough and secure binding between the upper and under layers. The use of the partition d is also of advantage if the said separate binding substance be not employed in order that the substance for forming the under layer of the linoleum may only come in contact with the previously-rolled upper layer immediately at the point of pressure between the rollers a and b and not previously fill up the entire month of the rolls, as, first, a more uniform product is obtained,- and, secondly, an agglomeration of the mass at the point of pressure cannot arise, which would affect the uniformity of the product.

The partition d is for this object placed as deep as possible in the mouth of the rolls in order that it may separate the two layers of coating as long as possible and only allow them to come together just before the place of maximum pressure between the two rollers. The lower edge of the partition is preferably tapered or pointed, and the partition is also preferably made so as to be movable up and down in order to enable it to be adjusted according to the desired thickness of the layer.

Instead of the manufacture of the doublelayered linoleum being effected with pressure-rollers CL I) placed side by side it may'in similar manner be efiected by pressure-rollers placed one above the other. Fig. 2 shows this arrangement. 0 is here also a preliminary pressing-roller arranged over the larger roller a for rolling out the upper layer of the linoleum. The covering substance for the under layer of the linoleum is here spread on a foundation fabric f, passed in conjunction with it through the rollers a 1), (such a foundation fabric may of course also be employed in the arrangement described in Fig. 1,) and this fabric is thus by means of the rollers a and I) also rolled out on the rear side of the sheet of linoleum. In this arrangement the partition d has preferably a curved-form. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the covering substance for the under layer may also be given a preliminary rolling similarly to that employed for the covering substance of the upper layer, and the advantage is thereby obtained of enabling a double-layered linoleum of any desired solidity or strength to be obtained. When both layers are preliminarily pressed before reaching the mouth of the large layers a and b, it is possible by regulating the opening between the pressure-rollers to exert on each layer any desired strength of pressure, and thereby a more stronglypressed and therefore more solid product may be obtained, as desired, than is-possible ICC when the substance for the under layer is merely loosely poured in. If the mass for the under layer be also preliminarily rolled, it always comes into the mouth of the rolls and passes through the same, even if the rollers be placed very close together, so that thus a strong compression of both layers between the rollers can actually be obtained. If, on the other hand, the covering substance for the under layer be only loosely introduced and not previously rolled, only a certain quantity of the same, according to the position'of the rollers, passes through between the rollers, while the remainder of the coating substance is heaped back behind the rollers. By the previous preliminary compression this is prevented, and there is never passed between the rollers a more stronglycompressed mass and more of the substance than the rollers can properly receive and pass through.

In Fig. 3 a preliminary pressing-roller c and g, respectively, is arranged over each of the large pressing-rollers a and b, On the outer side of the rollers a c and b g, respectively, the coating substances for the upper and under layers of the linoleum are fed, and between the respective rollers each is rolled out preliminarily into a sheet, both of which sheets then pass through between the two rollers a and b in order there to be compressed into a doublelayered linoleum or floor-cloth. In order to obtain a more thorough combination of the two layers with one another between the rollers, a small quantity of a separate binding linoleum substance may be introduced, as before.

In Fig. 4 the arrangement for the preliminary rolling of the upper layer is the same as in Fig. 1, while the preliminary pressingroller g for the under layer lies before the pressing-roller b, and the coating substance for the under layer is spread on a foundation fabric f, passed between the rollers b and g and then between the rollers 12 and a.

It is of course no departure from the essential features of the present invention if only the covering substance for the under layer be preliminarily rolled and the covering substance for the upper layer introduced loose or unrolled; but with this arrangement the product is not so good.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A process for making a double-layered linoleum product which consists in preliminarily pressing into sheet form a hard, dense, upper-layer substance, and then rolling a softer, less dense under-layer substance, under pressure, onto the rear side of said sheet.

2. A process for making a double-layered linoleum product which consists in preliminarily pressing into sheet form the upper and under layers, the upper layer being of a hard dense substance, and the under layer being of a softer and less dense substance, and then exerting pressure upon both of the sheets to press the softer layer onto the rear side of the upper harder layer which is arranged to sus tain the pressure of the rollers.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

LUDWIG WILHELM SEESER.

Witnesses:

F. A. BRYCE, C. DIEDERICH. 

